Category Archives: Blog
The UK in three halves
By any standards of the UK’s collective diary, Monday of this week was a day worthy of popular attention-and reflection. Three events between them seemed to define the noble and the less worthy of the UK nation, and humanity generally. It began with news that young victims from Syria and other conflict zones stranded in Calais were to be reunited with their families across the Chanell. It developed with live coverage of the celebration of the team GB Olympic and Paralympic teams. By day’s end millions of football …
The Joy of Messi
The joy of Messi Writing in El Pais today the journalist Jordi Quixano notes that the health of FC Barcelona depends on Leo Messi’s smile and the excellence of his football. Watching Messi play in the pre-season warm-up game against Leicester City last night , I was not alone in feeling elated. The crowd in Stockholm’s aptly named Friends Arena evidently relished, as did TV viewers around the world, his ability to raise the occasion to something worthwhile. It was indeed a necessary tonic after a summer marred by an …
Brexit: Between the disaster and Hope
A few days ago, I said in a public debate during the campaign that my worst nightmare would be to wake up on June 24 and see Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, a party that thrives on insularity, intolerance and racism, smiling , surrounded by British flags our screens, and proclaiming independence with a ‘we have won’ Brexit. Not surprising then that today I am struggling with a deep sense of what Winston Churchill in his worst moments of depression called his ‘black dog’ , along with the 16 other …
When Ali became my boxing idol
I had just turned twelve when in 1965 I drew the short straw at my Catholic primary school in London St Philip’s and became captain of boxing. I was pretty skinny and of average height for my age, and I was no great boxer. Indeed with the evidence of hindsight I now see I got the appointment by default rather than on merit. I was an improvised choice after several more physically prepared front runners showed no interest, knowing that their reputation lay elsewhere. Boxing was not considered a key …
Champion’s League Final: Milan
Championship Final : The Beauty & The Beast Two images endured for me in the aftermath of last saturday’s champions league final in Milan, both taken in the final minutes of a less than memorable encounter .The first that of Atletico de Madrid’s Juan Fran, the other of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, just after the two had taken their respective shots at goals during the death by penalty. Juan Fran’s shot hit the bar and his subsequent drowned dog look and pose was that of a man who for ever …
A game of football not politics
A game of football not politics In the end it came down to who played the best football undeterred by political intolerance and complicity. For ninety-minutes and extra time FC Barcelona were jostled and hacked when not exposed to the occasional attacking forays of their Sevilla opponents. The Barca players held their ground, rose defiantly from their batterings, controlled the ball, played it with all the skill and passion they could muster. A lesser team would have had the soul knocked out of them by Mascherano’s half-time expulsion but they …
Del Bosque’s hard drive
Pity the housekeeper of world football’s galaxy. With just over a month to go to go before his team kicks-off in this summer’s European Championships, the Marques del Bosque otherwise known as Vicente may have a clear ambition to once again defend Spain’s crown , but he is faced with limited time to mould a team capable of helping him do so.. A heavy schedule of Champion’s League and national club Cup finals fixtures towards the end of May affect a range of clubs from which Del Bosque would like …
Celebrating Sadiq Khan
As a Londoner this past weekend, I hot foot it to my nearest human cooperative and patch of nature to enjoy a rare outburst of sunny and warm weather. It is a particular joy to have within walking distance of where I live in south London , one of the most inspiring and uplifting of London’s green spaces –Battersea Park. With late blossom flowering, plains and chestnuts loaded with young leaf, flower beds in full bloom, swans and moorhens nesting on the lake, and excited birdsong hung on every …
